I, having plunged into a pond,
served by various elephants,
am pulling up lotus root there,
because they’re what I’m eating then.The Buddha in that period
bore the name Padumuttara.
Wearing cloth dyed red, the Buddha
is traveling through the sky there,
shaking his robes made out of rags.
Then I heard the sound of his robes,
and looking upward at the sky,
I saw the Leader of the World.Remaining in that very place,
I invited the World-Leader:
“Honey is flowing from the roots
and milk and oil flow from the stems;
let the Buddha, the Eyeful One,
with pity accept some from me.”
Then the Teacher, Compassionate,
the Greatly Famed One, descended.The Eyeful One, with pity then,
accepted that alms food of mine.
Accepting it, the Sambuddha
expressed his thanks to me like this:“Be happy, O merit-filled one;
let your rebirth be accomplished.
Due to this gift of lotus root,
may you receive huge happiness.”Having said that, the Sambuddha,
the one whose name was “Best Lotus,”
the Sambuddha, taking that food,
the Victor flew off through the sky.Having taken more lotus root,
I came back to my hermitage.
Hanging that root up in a tree,
I remembered my offering.A massive wind-storm then arose:
it agitated the forest.
The space was filled up with the noise
of thunderbolts bursting forth there.Then lightening falling from the sky,
struck me right on top of my head.
Because of that, sitting down,
I passed away right on the spot.Then bound up with my good karma,
I was reborn in Tusitā.
When my human body fell down,
I delighted in the gods’ world.Eighty-six thousand women then,
decked out in fine clothes and jewelry,
wait on me evening and morning:
the fruit of giving lotus root.Having come to a human womb,
I am then happy all the time.
I have no lack of possessions:
the fruit of giving lotus root.Having then been pitied by him,
the God of Gods, the Neutral One,
all defilements are exhausted;
now there will be no more rebirth.In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave that alms food back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit of giving lotus root.My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint.Being in Best Buddha’s presence
was a very good thing for me.
The three knowledges are attained;
I have done what the Buddha taught!The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!
Thus indeed Venerable Bhisadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Bhisadāyaka Thera is finished.